Morning Box Score

By Marcus Gilmer in Miscellaneous on Sep 19, 2008 2:00PM

Cubs Rally For Extra Inning Win
Despite being down 6-2 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the Cubs found a way to put themselves back in the game and, ultimately, pull out a 7-6 victory in 12 innings on Thursday afternoon. It started when Aramis Ramirez doubled to left; Jim Edmonds then singled him in to make the game 6-3. After Mark DeRosa reached on a single, it was all Geovany Soto who blasted a three-run shot to left field to tie up the game. In the 12th, Daryle Ward was walked and then lifted for Jason Marquis. A Reed Johnson sacrifice moved him to second. After walking Soriano, pitcher Carlos Villanueva gave up another sacrifice to Theriot, which moved Marquis to third. Derek Lee then singled Marquis home to wrap-up the game. With their magic number at two and a chance to clinch the division this weekend at home with victories against the rival Cardinals, some Cubs are downplaying expectations:

• Derek Lee: "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. We still have some work to do."
• Jim Edmonds: "I've been hearing a lot of stuff on the radio and TV -- let's be clear about this, we still have to win two more games. Let's not get too excited until it's over."
• Sweet Lou: Let's win tomorrow if we can. Whatever happens on the road [with the Brewers], happens. I'm not going to sit around here. If we win tomorrow afternoon, the bars in Wrigley will be waiting around. I'm not going to be part of that scene."

Man, you guys are no fun.

Sox Spanked Clobbered By Yankees
The Sox will never again play a game in old Yankee Stadium and, after this week, they're probably glad. Thursday night, the Pale Hose dropped their third of four games to the Yankees, 9-2. Said Ozzie, "Horrible...We didn't pitch well, we didn't hit at all. We don't have anything going forward right now. If we want to get to where we want to get, we better start playing better, in general." It looked like things would be good early on as the Sox got a run and loaded the bases in the first, but the inning ended with just the lone run scored. Konerko, who was responsible for the first inning run, hit a solo home run in the ninth, but it wasn't nearly enough. Pitcher Javier Vazquez gave up seven runs in less than four full innings pitched. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Twins scored five runs in the top of the ninth to beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and to cut the Sox lead in the AL Central to just 1.5 games. Guillen later added: "There's only a week and a half left, and we have to keep fighting because nobody said it was going to be easy. But we fight all the way, so why do we have to lay down now? We aren't playing right now like we are in a pennant race, and if we keep playing like that, it will be tough for us to make the playoffs." The Sox magic number remains at 9. I think.